{"title":"Lavinia Greacen","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"j-g-farrell-book-lavinia-greacen-9780747551904","title":"J.G.Farrell","description":"In this full-length biography, Greacen disentangles not only the circumstances of the novelist's death by drowning, but also the story of his life and how it informed everything he wrote.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49513050603793,"sku":"GOR002683887","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53046698508561,"sku":"GOR014714087","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0747551901.jpg?v=1751436802"},{"product_id":"j-g-farrell-book-lavinia-greacen-9780747544630","title":"J.G.Farrell","description":"In 1979, in a remote corner of West Cork in Ireland, J.G. Farrell was drowned while fishing from the rocks near his home. He was 43, and it had only been six years since he had won the Booker Prize for his novel \"The Siege of Krishnapur\". A man who elevated privacy to a high art, Farrell's leagcy would be the \"Empire Trilogy\", now hailed as a classic of the 20th century, as well as a lingering mystery. After the drowning, newspaper reports at once gave rise to rumours about how and why he died. Farrell had always been a man who baffled even those closest to him. Based on her access to J.G. Farrell's family and friends, as well as his notebooks and personal correspondence, Lavinia Greacen's biography disentangles not only the full circumstances of the novelist's death, but the story of his life and how it informed everything he wrote. Born into a family with contrasting Irish, English and expatriot traditions, Farrell eventually found himself drawn to write about the aftermath of empire in Ireland, India and Singapore. After a conventional education, the outstanding athlete was stricken with polio in his first term at Oxford. The ordeal affected him for life and lent his writing a surreal humour and an instinctive sympathy with people under extreme pressure. Farrell was an enigmatic, elusive character who nevertheless amused and captivated a wide circle of friends in England and America. He never married, but loved many women, whose traces can be found in his fiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49570318188817,"sku":"GOR001963064","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49653794767121,"sku":"GOR007888947","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50133423882513,"sku":"GOR002020165","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50340358979857,"sku":"GOR010841780","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50971867840785,"sku":"CIN0747544638VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0747544638.jpg?v=1750881262"},{"product_id":"j-g-farrell-book-lavinia-greacen-9781859184899","title":"J. G. Farrell","description":"This new, expanded edition of the widely praised biography of the Booker Prize-winning author JG Farrell is timely. His literary achievement is still in the ascendent, as proved by the posthumous award in 2010 of the 'Lost' Booker for 'Troubles', decided by international e-vote. That made him a double Booker winner, and the publicity given to his renowned Empire Trilogy novels has left the general reading public wanting to know more. Lavinia Greacen has uncovered fresh material and additional photographs since the publication of the first edition, shedding further light on Farrell's short life and tragic death, as well as the development of his writing career. The result is a fascinating and compelling story about the man described by the latest Estudios Irlandeses as 'one of the English language's most accomplished and enigmatic figures'. The life of the novelist J.G. Farrell (1935  -  1979) is almost stranger than fiction. He was a schoolboy sporting hero struck down by polio, a dedicated writer living on a shoestring who was awarded the Booker Prize in 1973, and, with his literary reputation secure and a newly-converted house on the scenic west Cork coastline, he was drowned at the age of 44 while fishing from rocks nearby. This expanded biography, interweaving letters and interviews from sources previously unknown, tells the moving story of his peripatetic life. It ranges from his childhood in Ireland to public school and university in England; from his base in London, where most of his novels took shape, to extended stays in France and the United States, and to periods spent in Mexico, India, Vietnam and Singapore. Readers will discover that Farrell's celebrated Empire Trilogy, which includes Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip, reflects his own travels and personal experiences, as well as his unique wit and imagination. This biography reveals the very private man behind the celebrated literary novelist. 'After reading it', wrote Gerald Dawe, Senior Lecturer in English at Trinity College, Dublin, 'I felt not only that I knew J.G. Farrell, but that I, too, mourned his loss as if he were a friend.'","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49590944497937,"sku":"GOR009827137","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393227657489,"sku":"CIN1859184898G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1859184898.jpg?v=1751379849"},{"product_id":"chink-a-biography-book-lavinia-greacen-9780333556931","title":"Chink: A Biography","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49634863513873,"sku":"GOR004623292","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49772311806225,"sku":"GOR013097920","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49808429285649,"sku":"GOR001990558","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50469481611537,"sku":"GOR002935356","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0333556933.jpg?v=1750781215"},{"product_id":"j-g-farrell-in-his-own-words-book-lavinia-greacen-9781859184288","title":"J.G. Farrell in His Own Words","description":"The novelist J.G. Farrell - known to his friends as Jim - was drowned on August 11 1979 when he was swept off rocks by a sudden storm while fishing in the West of Ireland. He was in his early forties. Had he lived to write more, assessed the \"Daily Telegraph\" obituary at the time, 'he might well have been regarded as the greatest historical novelist of his generation'. Thirty years on, with a new and younger readership, that accolade rings true. \"The Siege of Krishnapur\", the second of Farrell's \"Empire Trilogy\", won the Booker Prize in 1973, and it was selected as one of only six previous winners to compete in the 2008 international 'Best of Booker' competition. The strength of American interest in Farrell's books is underlined by the inclusion of all three Trilogy novels in the Classics imprint of the \"New York Review of Books\". Many of these collected letters are written to women whom Jim Farrell loved and whom he inadvertently hurt. His ambition to be a great writer in an age of minimal author's earnings ruled out the expense of marriage and fatherhood, because for an unconventional novelist he had remarkably conventional standards. Self-sufficiency was his answer. Books Ireland has astutely portrayed him as 'a mystery wrapped in an enigma, a man who wanted solitude and yet did not want it, wanted love but feared commitment, reached out again and again but, possibly through fear of rejection, was always the first to cut the cord'. But Farrell's kindness, deft humour and gift for friendship reached across rejection, which must account for why so many such letters were kept. Funny, teasing, anxious and ambitious, these previously unpublished letters give the reader a glimpse of this private man.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50029031260433,"sku":"GOR002357181","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052542296337,"sku":"NIN9781859184288","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1859184286.jpg?v=1751379849"},{"product_id":"jg-farrell-in-his-own-words-book-jg-farrell-9781859184769","title":"JG Farrell in His Own Words","description":"The novelist J.G. Farrell - known to his friends as Jim - was drowned on August 11, 1979 when he was swept off rocks by a sudden storm while fishing in the West of Ireland. He was in his early forties. Had he not sadly died so young,A\" remarked Salman Rushdie in 2008,  there is no question that he would today be one of the really major novelists of the English language. The three novels that he did leave are all in their different way extraordinary.A\" The Siege of Krishnapur, the second of Farrell's Empire Trilogy, won the Booker Prize in 1973, and it was selected as one of only six previous winners to compete in the 2008 international 'Best of Booker' competition. The strength of American interest in Farrell's books is underlined by the inclusion of all three Trilogy novels in the Classics imprint of the New York Review of Books. Troubles won the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010.  Many of these selected letters are written to women whom Jim Farrell loved and whom he inadvertently hurt. His ambition to be a great writer in an age of minimal author's earnings ruled out the expense of marriage and fatherhood, so self-sufficiency was his answer. Books Ireland has astutely portrayed him as 'a mystery wrapped in an enigma, a man who wanted solitude and yet did not want it, wanted love but feared commitment, reached out again and again but, possibly through fear of rejection, was always the first to cut the cord.' But Farrell's kindness, deft humour and gift for friendship reached across rejection, which must account for why so many such letters were kept. Funny, teasing, anxious and ambitious, these previously unpublished letters to a wide range of friends give the reader a glimpse of this private man. Ranging from childhood to the day before his death, Farrell's distinctive letters have the impact of autobiography.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50203998683409,"sku":"GOR009940894","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50992029401361,"sku":"CIN1859184766VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052564447505,"sku":"NIN9781859184769","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51320679465233,"sku":"NGR9781859184769","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1859184766.jpg?v=1751427525"},{"product_id":"military-maverick-book-lavinia-greacen-9781036102272","title":"Military Maverick","description":"A follow-up to the best-selling biography ‘Chink’, this selection from private letters and intimate war diary has the impact of a fresh ‘no holds barred’ autobiography. Dorman-Smith the man – flesh and blood – comes alive here on the page.  Provocative, irreverent, caustic and witty, his disdain for Churchill – and for the Establishment in general – increases as his military career unravels. Egotistical? Yes. Arrogant? Certainly. His own worst enemy? Perhaps. But Dorman Smith’s grasp of tactics and strategy was unsurpassed, as his exchanges with Basil Liddell-Hart demonstrate.  Full of contradictions, he was externally reserved and inwardly super-sensitive. Growing up in style in Ireland and educated at public school in England, his religion was Catholic and he scorned any Anglo-Irish tag. His private life while rising up the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers proved colourful, while a brief dalliance with the IRA in the 1950s never endangered his vow of silence over the Enigma\/Ultra secret.  This book gives a marvellous picture of personal war experience in two world wars, from RMC Sandhurst and life in the trenches, via the Staff College to high command in Egypt and India between the wars, until service in North Africa under Wavell began, and working side by side with Auchinleck at the First Battle of Alamein. That would lead to confrontation with Churchill and Brooke, and subsequent breakout from Anzio under fire. Readers will know what it was like to survive the trenches, to serve in HQ as crises arose, and to have command involving losses - the reality of war is dramatic and moving.  The First Battle of Alamein, fought under Auchinleck in the emergency that dangerous summer of 1942, was to be followed within three months by Montgomery’s celebrated battle and its consequent fame. The important argument of Military Maverick, however, is that First Alamein was the real turning point in the Desert War, and that makes Dorman Smith’s account even more valuable.  The letters and diary entries are linked by commentary and explanation by the editor Lavinia Greacen, and by the military historian John Lee.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51215998255377,"sku":"NGR9781036102272","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51356368077073,"sku":"GOR014235981","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1036102270.jpg?v=1751143230"},{"product_id":"chink-a-biography-book-lavinia-greacen-9780333453957","title":"Chink: A Biography","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51313133355281,"sku":"GOR002083929","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51313135026449,"sku":"GOR005619707","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51313136894225,"sku":"GOR011772206","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51331090809105,"sku":"CIN0333453956VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53243962032401,"sku":"GOR009342354","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0333453956.jpg?v=1751038924"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-lavinia-greacen.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}